Beechdean Make Amends With Brands Hatch British GT Win

After narrowly missing out last year Beechdean teammates JonnyAdam and AndrewHoward went one better by taking victory in the two hour AvonTyresBritishGTChampionship race at Brands Hatch, taking the championship lead in the process.

After missing out in the series’ closest finish in the corresponding 2012 race Adam gave a dominant performance in the second half of the race to win by ten seconds, a gap that could have been far larger had the Scot not have eased back in the closing minutes of the race. He made the pass that would decide the race soon after he took over the car during the mid-race pitstop window, passing a similarly fresh DuncanTappy in the VonRyanRacing McLaren MP4-12C.

Tappy effectively took over in the leading car, GregoireDemoustier having fought his way up the order in an action packed first half of the race after starting 19th. The Frenchman had completed his charge to the front just before the pit window opened after 50 minutes of racing by passing Andrew Howard, MarkPoole in the BarwellMotorsport run Aston demoting the Beechdean driver to third – albeit briefly.

Howard had taken the lead from polesitter SteveTandy at Graham Hill Bend on the opening and held the position by a narrow margin for much of his stint. Early in the race the battle for the lead was a six car affair, Howard heading the BMWs of Tandy, MarcoAttard, LeeMowle as well as the Trackspeed Porsches of JonMinshaw and DavidAshburn.

The battle was gradually thinned. PhilDryburgh fell from third after the opening lap with a mistake at Westfield. Mowle and Minshaw would be spun in separate incidents by GaryEastwood and Mark Poole, the contact with the BMW ending with Eastwood’s FFCorse Ferrari in the Hawthorn’s gravel.

At various stages through the battle came MikeSimpson, ColinWhite and then – finally – Demoustier. TeamLNT had been the only team to start with their stronger driver, hoping Mike Simpson would be able to minimise the damage to be done by a long pitstop after a change in driver line-up with RobSmith replacing regular RichardSykes. The plan seemed to be working, Simpson knifing up the order to fourth before hitting a door shed by the BlendiniMotorsport GT4 Ginetta, smashing his windscreen and damaging the radiator, prompting retirement. Colin White was one of the main beneficiaries of the problems for Eastwood, Mowle and Simpson, moving into fourth before passing Attard, Tandy and Howard in turn to take the lead.

However, just two laps later he ran wide at Surtees, falling back to sixth with Demoustier and Poole able to make a up a place. There were to be further problems for the team of White and Tom Sharp, a puncture forcing them into a pitstop just minutes before the window for mandatory stops opened. Later in the race they incurred a penalty and had to make a fourth visit to the pits to close a door that had come open.

Demoustier led into the pit window, before his stop allowed Poole to lead, RonJohnson leading a single lap after being the last to stop in the Barwell/Ecurie Ecosse BMW. Behind Adam had made the pass on Tappy, catching a napping Tappy as he concentrated on lapping the GT4 leading OptimumMotorsport Ginetta G40.

RickParfittJr led the class from the start – despite a slow start due to being told to expect a second formation lap, handing over to RyanRatcliffe for the second half of the race with a 25 second lead over the APOSport Ginetta G40, driven by Alex Osborne in the second half of the race. Osborne managed to take the lead down to 16 seconds, the team pushing him on from the pit wall as they sensed a late charge to victory. However, they ended with very different encouragement, willing the car over the line on the final puffs of petrol vapour to take second in class. Redgate/LifetimeRacing pairing DanEagling and MattSmith completed the GT4 podium. Smith started the race and survived a brush with disaster as ZakBrown’s UnitedAutosports McLaren speared across him after blowing a right-rear tyre on the approach to Hawthorns.

Eagling took third from the CompleteRacing Aston Martin that was later involved in an incident at Clearways that also ended RichardAbra’s race in the Barwell Aston while he was on course to score points.

After losing a position to Adam Tappy vowed not be caught out again, beginning a defensive drive that made him every part the co-star to the winners.

Olly Bryant, then DanBrown, then Bryant again tried to find a way past the defiant McLaren, the battle allowing Adam’s lead to swell and others – in FortecMotorsports’BenjiHetherington and United Autosports’ MattBell – to join the fight.

PhilKeen – in the #33 Trackspeed car started by Minshaw – also looked likely to join the battle but a flat tyre dropped them down the order. They would eventually finish 13th, rounding off another sorry weekend for Trackspeed.

GregorFisken had been turned around at Graham Hill Bend in the early lap, the slight contact with the wall damaging the exhaust which, with StephenJelley at the wheel, eventually started to melt the rear tyre. After his minor role in the lead battle Ashburn slipped back to the edge of the top ten before pitting with NickTandy waiting to take over. However, Ashburn missed his pit box, instead continuing to the far end of the pitlane and pitting among the FF Corse and Aston Martin garages as other teams completed their own stops – JohnGaw showing his displeasure with Ashburn, hitting the rear of the polka-dot Porsche as he waited to take over from Phil Dryburgh.

Ashburn revisited the pits on the next lap, completing the hand over to Tandy, though it would be in vain as gear selection issues ended their race before they could serve a stop-go penalty for Ashburn’s indiscretion. Another no score meant they lost the points lead with three races – two and Zandvoort next month and the Donington Park finale remaining in the season.

Tappy’s fine defensive work yielded second place ahead of the Ecurie Ecosse and 888Optimum cars that had tried to find a way past. Hetherington finished fifth in the Fortec Mercedes started by Jason Minshaw with Matt Bell in the UA Audi sixth to keep up his and Mark Patterson’s own championship challenge.

OmanAirMotorbase, JohnDhillon and AaronScott for AFCorse, Dryburgh and Gaw’s PGF–Kinfaun Aston and the second 888Optimum BMW completed the top ten.